-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- After nearly going to war last year over a Colombian military raid inside Ecuador , the two nations seemed to be patching relations when their foreign ministers met a few weeks ago .

Then an Ecuadorian judge issued an arrest warrant this week for the head of the Colombian armed forces , pushing relations back one giant step .

Colombian Gen. Freddy Padilla , the armed forces chief whose arrest is sought , canceled a meeting scheduled for Friday with Ecuadorian Gen. Fabian Varela . Padilla thought he might be arrested if he traveled to Ecuador .

It 's not the first pothole on the path to normalization . Ecuador previously issued an arrest warrant for former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos , who held the post during last year 's raid .

Colombia has dismissed both warrants , saying Ecuador has no jurisdiction to investigate and judge Colombian officials .

Analyst Patrick Esteruelas of the Eurasia Group consulting firm calls Ecuador 's actions `` schizophrenic . ''

Two former U.S. ambassadors to the area agree this is par for Ecuadorian foreign policy .

`` That 's the history of Ecuador , unfortunately , '' said Peter Romero , ambassador to that nation from 1993 to 1996 . `` One step forward , two steps back . ''

Myles Frechette , U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 1994 to 1997 , said Friday that `` Ecuador is a specialist in bonehead plays . It has been for years . Nothing 's changed much . ''

Former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Heinz Moeller , who served from 2000 to 2003 , called the arrest warrant `` lamentable . ''

`` It 's absurd that these things happen , '' he said Friday .

Tension between the two nations has existed for years . The latest enmity started in March 2008 , when Colombia bombed a guerrilla base inside Ecuador . The raid killed a top leader for the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia , commonly known as the FARC . The Marxist guerrilla group has been waging war on Colombia since the 1960s and often takes refuge on the Ecuadorian side of the border .

At least 25 people were killed , most of them said to be FARC guerrillas .

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe hailed the attack , saying `` terrorism ... does not respect borders . ''

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa called the attack `` aggression '' and a `` massacre '' and severed diplomatic relations with Colombia .

Both nations went on war footing but stopped short of military action .

Over time , tensions seemed to dissipate and Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez and his Ecuadorian counterpart , Fander Falconi , met last month . After the meeting , Colombia signed a statement saying it would never attack inside Ecuador again .

Friday 's meeting between the two nations ' top generals was supposed to further repair the damage .

Then came the arrest warrant .

What happened ? Perhaps politics . Definitely one branch of the government acting without the consent of the other .

Falconi quickly pointed out that the nation 's judicial branch , not Correa 's administration , decided to issue the warrant .

Analysts agree that it was n't Correa 's doing .

`` That 's not a very coordinated government , '' said Frechette , the former envoy to Colombia . `` The executive branch did n't issue that order . ''

Moeller , the former Ecuadorian foreign minister , said the judge who issued the arrest warrant is `` motivated by political criteria . ''

`` I do n't have another explanation , '' said Moeller , who also served as president of the Ecuadorian Congress three times .

Normalization of relations will be a slow process , Eurasia analyst Esteruelas said .

`` We 're going to see a lot of stops and starts , '' he said .

Alejandro Santos , editorial director of La Semana weekly news magazine in Colombia , said relations will not improve until the two countries `` can close the chapter '' on last year 's bombing raid .

`` That chapter can be closed when the Colombian government promises not to do that . They have done that -LRB- promise -RRB- , '' Santos said . `` Now Ecuador needs to start avoiding those types of judicial measures against Colombian officials . ''

Esteruelas said Ecuador felt justifiably aggrieved over the attack and wants to make sure it never happens again . But he also sees another issue at play : Ecuadorian President Correa 's plummeting poll numbers and domestic problems with indigenous movements and other political issues .

`` It 's usually convenient to remind everyone that Correa is fighting for Ecuadorian sovereignty , '' Esteruelas said , adding that such nationalism `` resonates very broadly '' across the political spectrum .

But Frechette said , `` Correa really does want to reach some kind of agreement . ''

The problems between the two nations are long-standing and have a lot to do with the 45-year-old war between Colombia and the FARC .

From Ecuador 's perspective , the war has displaced about 250,000 Colombians who have sought refuge in Ecuador . Those refugees need services and jobs , further straining a poor area that 's already on the brink . Ecuador also resents that the FARC have set up camps inside the country , causing security problems for a nation that is not technically at war with the guerrillas .

From Colombia 's point of view , Ecuador is not doing enough to combat the FARC and is allowing the guerrillas to have a sanctuary that Colombian troops can not reach .

Further complicating the relationship , Ecuador 's Correa is politically aligned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez , who is no friend of Colombia and its leader , Uribe . Chavez threatened to attack neighboring Colombia after the military raid in Ecuador .

`` This has been developing for many years , '' Moeller said .

But there are great advantages to normalizing relations , most of them economic .

Ecuador , for example , is Colombia 's third-largest export market .

Walter Spurrier , president of Grupo Spurrier and director of Weekly Analysis in Guayaquil , Ecuador , and Maria Velez de Berliner , president of the Latin Intelligence Corp. in Alexandria , Virginia , talked with the Inter-American Dialog policy institute last month about Colombia-Ecuador economic activity .

`` Re-establishing relations could lead Ecuador to lift sanctions against Colombian products , which forced many small - and medium-sized businesses to collapse on both sides of the border , '' Velez told the Washington-based think tank .

Said Spurrier , `` For Colombia , Ecuador is an important market . Not so the other way around . But the goods Ecuador sells Colombia are difficult to relocate to other markets . Ecuador now attempts to sell Libya and Iran the rice it would have otherwise sold Colombia . Also , Ecuadorian importers have to look for other sources . ''

Moeller , the former foreign minister , wants normalization to get back on track .

`` We have to close the parenthesis , '' he said . `` I hope this passes ... and that they start talking again . ''

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Ecuadorian judge issues an arrest warrant for head of Colombian armed forces

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Colombian Gen. Freddy Padilla cancels trip to Ecuador for fear of arrest

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Tensions between neighbors stem from FARC rebels taking refuge in Ecuador